Chief Risk Officer

About the Role

Our client is seeking a Chief Risk Officer to lead and mature their enterprise risk organization. This is a high-impact leadership role responsible for building a disciplined, data-driven risk function that delivers measurable improvements in credit performance, fraud outcomes, and overall portfolio health.

The successful candidate will move the organization beyond ad-hoc problem-solving toward a structured risk operating system, complete with clear ownership, rigorous governance, continuous monitoring, and a sustained innovation cadence. This role requires both deep quantitative expertise and the ability to design scalable processes, teams, and feedback loops.

Key Responsibilities

Risk Strategy & Organizational Design

• Define and own the enterprise risk strategy across credit risk, fraud, and related domains.
• Establish clear ownership, decision rights, and operating rhythms across risk, data science, fraud operations, and underwriting.
• Build a scalable risk operating model that balances rigorous controls with the speed required in a high-growth environment.

Model Lifecycle & Analytics

• Own the full model and strategy lifecycle from ideation and development through validation, deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
• Implement robust performance dashboards, early-warning indicators, and root-cause analysis processes for portfolio performance and fraud trends.
• Drive a culture of controlled experimentation, including champion-challenger testing and structured back-testing of all material changes.

Governance, Automation & Continuous Improvement

• Establish strong governance around model changes, rule updates, and policy decisions, including documentation, version control, and audit readiness.
• Advance automation across monitoring, decisioning, and reporting to increase speed and consistency while reducing manual effort.
• Lead regular risk strategy reviews and innovation forums that keep the organization focused on forward-looking improvements rather than reactive firefighting.

Leadership & Cross-Functional Influence

• Lead and develop a high-performing team of risk professionals, analysts, and specialists.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Underwriting, Compliance, and Finance to embed risk considerations into product design and business decisions.
• Serve as a clear, credible voice of risk to the executive team and board, translating complex analysis into actionable insights and recommendations.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive experience in credit risk, fraud, or quantitative risk management within consumer lending, fintech, or financial services.
• Demonstrated success building or significantly transforming a risk organization, including the design of governance frameworks, operating cadences, and performance management systems.
• Deep fluency in quantitative methods, statistical modeling, portfolio monitoring, model risk management, and fraud analytics.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams that include data scientists, engineers, and operational specialists under a unified risk framework.
• Strong track record of implementing closed-loop systems that connect data, models, decisions, and outcomes with clear accountability and continuous learning.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with experience presenting to senior leadership and driving alignment across functions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior Chief Risk Officer, Head of Credit Risk, or equivalent enterprise risk leadership experience in a high-growth lending or fintech environment.
• Experience implementing structured innovation processes (e.g., regular experimentation cycles, risk labs, or formal model risk audits).
• Advanced degree in a quantitative field (statistics, economics, mathematics, data science, or related discipline).

Search Status: Completed